Despair of Morecambe man 'living on a building site'

“It’s just mess, stress and noise everyday. I feel like a prisoner in my own home.”

Morecambe man David Green’s first-floor flat is surrounded by scaffolding.

The view from David's window

Bricks fly down a chute outside his window every couple of minutes, as incessant drilling reverberates through the six-storey Grosvenor Apartments on Sandylands Promenade.

David’s balcony doors, which look out across the bay, have been locked, and a board put up across the door for his health and safety.

The former Heysham Power Station worker, who is recovering from a triple heart bypass, and has lived in three different flats inside Grosvenor Apartments over the last 12 years, says not a year has gone by without work being carried out on the building.

The current job, which is expected to take nine months, involves stripping the bricks from the outside of the building and replacing them all.

Grosvenor Apartments on Morecambe Prom

David says that a “catalogue of errors and mistakes” made by the original builders of the flats has meant that repair work is constantly having to be carried out.

“It’s a building site”, he said.

“They’re knocking all the bricks off on the outside of the building due to water ingress and leaks.

“Over the last 12 years there’s been a catalogue of issues. The floor cracked and sank in my first apartment, tiles came off in the bathroom. In my current flat there’s been water coming in under the window sills.

David, who rents his flat, wrote to the building’s owner, Preston-based Rowland Homes, to complain about the issues, and said he had suffered “extreme stress” due to the ongoing problems.

Rowland Homes wrote back, saying that the issues with windows/balcony doors and drafts or water ingress were being resolved by the works now being undertaken.

The company told David that no requests for compensation would be discussed, and no compensation would be offered to any resident of the apartment block. Rowland Homes did not respond to a request for comment.

David added: “I clearly like living here due to the location, despite everything we’ve gone through. You can’t fault the people who are doing the current job, it was just so badly built in the first place.

“It’s just really frustrating.

“They should have moved us out and declared it a building site. It feels like we’re stuck here like prisoners.”

Trending

Morecambe man found guilty of sexual attacks against youngster

Scorching weather is a real throwback to the good old days in Morecambe as these pictures show

Former Bay Radio presenter Danny Matthews returns on Morecambe internet radio station